


where the fuck have you been all my life

by Kirschli_Kuchen



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Suicide Mention (Minor Character), Team Better Friends 4 Life, but most times it's worth it, going into any kind of relationship is hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-10
Packaged: 2018-03-16 22:53:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3505772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirschli_Kuchen/pseuds/Kirschli_Kuchen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray's clock is probably broken and he is perfectly alright with that.</p><p>That is until it suddenly starts up and flashes a happy “hey you're going to meet your soulmate in less than a day dude!” at him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AKA: "I thought this would be a nice relaxing 1k story that I can finish in like a day but 3k words later look where this is and look where we are"

No one really remembers how it all started but there was a distinct time where there were no clocks quietly counting down on almost everybody's wrists.

It doesn't really matter nowadays because it's mostly just become normal. If you have one your clock counts down until you meet the person made for you. If you touch them the black zeroes turn red or if you don't they just stay black like that until you find them again or they die.

If your soulmate dies your clock just freezes in that moment and the numbers scar.

  
  


Most people who marry and decide to have children are soulmates. This is statistically proven and probably not the worst idea possible.

Ray's family is a bit weird in that sense.

His mother became severely depressed when one day she woke up to the number 1320:52 scarring her wrist. Less than two months and then suddenly nothing. It was like the rug was pulled from right under her feet and she couldn't do anything.

But thank fuck for the small mercies.

There is actually a very intricate support system in place for people with dead soulmates, people who never met them and people who have no clocks. It's basically a suicide watch at the start and Ray's mom kind of really needed that then.

That's also how Ray's parents met.

Going back a couple of years his father was set to meet his soulmate any minute. He was in a kind of secluded place just off the main part of the train station. Then the flash mob happened and the minutes turned to zero in a crowd of people and the clock stayed black.

He went into the support system and got better. He also found a new passion. If he couldn't find his soulmate the least he could do was help people in his very position.

So he went on suicide watch for his soon to be wife. They talked and talked for hours about everything under the sun.

She asked him out on a date a bit later and he offered to first get her another social worker and think on it. Some months later they were officially dating and went on to get married.

After some years in their happy marriage Ray was conceived and he was kind of a curiosity of the medical world there for a minute.

Like he had a clock on his wrist so on all accounts he _should_ have a soulmate but there were no actual numbers on his wrist. Just gray dashes kind of fading out every now and again and then coming back stronger than ever.

  
  


It's not really a secret but Ray still doesn't _like_ to talk about it.

Ray mostly doesn't care. As long as he has his games he's perfectly content with his life.

If his hoodies are always covering his wrist then that's nobodies business but his.

So Ray goes in to work day after day. It's really not bad, the guys are great and he gets to do what he loves everyday. 

He's kind of getting tired of it though. Not all the time but enough for him to notice. More and more often he wishes he could be doing something else. Everything is getting more colorless by the day.

The only really interesting thing that happens being the odd earthquake here and there. 

The guys notice of course and they try to tease him out of his funk with gentle heckling and challenging him to some of  his favorite games. They even let him do a five facts on Tetris all on his own (even if that video will probably never come out it's that shitty). It's all just a thin ruse to let him sit back and relax with his #1 game for a couple of hours. 

Michael tries to talk to him a couple of times but he shuts that down right in the bud. No real sense talking about hypothetical feelings he hasn't even admitted to himself. 

  
  


One Wednesday there's this really huge earthquake rocking the whole city. It's actually high enough on the disaster scale that most things don't even open to prepare for the aftershocks.

Effectively it's a free day and Ray's planing on making the most of it. First order of business is of course cleaning up the broken plates and glasses that scattered in the quake but other than that he's just going to kick back with some games and relax. Okay maybe he'll squeeze a shower in there but meh, he'll see.

He doesn't bother with long sleeves today, he isn't going to go out anyway.

So he settles in for a bit of quality game time. Today his poison of choice is an online multiplayer to get his social contact in.

About six hours in he notices something on his wrist moving.

His character dies on screen and his team is screaming at him but he can't really be assed to answer because his wrist is flashing a happy 15:38 at him.

He is a whole lot of overwhelmed right now.

Someone in game curses him out so spectacularly that he kind of snaps out of it and disconnects his game.

His clock is solid black now and still showing him a nice crisp 15:26.

What the fuck.

What the actual flying fuck.

  
  


The shock hasn't really worn off when he comes into work the next day. The timer is now at 2:11 and Ray's getting real apprehensive.

After going his whole life thinking that his clock was kind of broken and he just didn't have a soulmate finding out that he does in fact have one and will meet them in just a bit more than two hours is kind of fucking stressful alright. A right down to earth stressor keeping him up all night and leaving him stupefied.

Coming to work was probably not one of his brightest ideas overall but fuck if he wouldn't take the chance to distract himself. His soulmate will probably find him anyway wherever he is (and isn't _that_ a very distressing thought now that he actually stops to think about it).

He's a bit distracted while they record, so sue him. It's not as if it's a very important video or anything and all of them have some off days, that's just unavoidable.

It doesn't really get better as his clock counts closer and closer to zero so he begs a ten minute break at 00:05. He goes out to the kitchen to get himself a drink and ends up just slumped over a table, cool drink pushed up in the crook of his elbow against his face resting on his folded arms. The fatigue of his impromptu all-nighter and general stress catching up to him.

It can't be more than like fifteen minutes later when someone shakes him awake. He blinks his eyes open slowly as he straightens his glasses out. The sleeve of his hoodie rides up a bit so he can see the counter.

His clock turned red on his wrist and all he can see is red.

  
  


He doesn't really remember anything until he's in his chair kind of facing the couch where a dude is lying down with an ice pack on his face.

Michael takes the arms of Ray's chair in his hands and turns it over to face him.

“What the flying fuck, Ray?” he asks but there's a bit of mirth in his eyes. It's more in Michael's nature to be a mother hen than stern and Ray thinks he probably got a glimpse of his wrist somewhere there. He's probably happy that Ray found his someone (that he never bothered to tell them about it doesn't seem to matter at this point).

Ray doesn't want to talk about it.

“You got some water for me?” he tries to evade but Michael just sends a worriedly hovering Gavin to get a glass. Ray's dimly aware that Geoff and Jack are also hovering in the background but they seem more bemused than anything. He remembers hearing that Griffon slapped Geoff at their first meeting so that's probably why. So they probably know, too. Fuck.

“Seriously what happened?” Michael shakes him out of his self diversion strategy. He pulls a face.

“Do we have to talk about it?” Ray asks hopefully and Michael looks unimpressed.

“You just knocked a guy out cold in the kitchen,” he deadpans.

Ray curls up a bit in his chair and mumbles something into the crook of his elbow.

“What was that?” Michael asks.

Ray looks pained, “I think he's my soulmate,” he says and all hell brakes loose.

There's a chorus of whats and whys especially since Gavin just came back but Michael just continues stand there and stare at him. It gets on his nerves.

“What,” he says flatly, avoiding Michael's eyes.

Michel considers it for a second, “Why?” he lightly touches his hand to Ray's and Ray hasn't the heart to shake him off.

“I freaked?” oh, he hadn't noticed before but he's shaking in his seat. He takes a slow breath to calm himself.

The gents and Gavin are still chattering away in the background as the stranger on the couch sits up. That shuts them up pretty fast. The guy tenderly rubs his chin and holds the ice pack with his other hand. As it suddenly becomes dead quiet he looks around at them.

“Uh, hi?” he says, uncertain. He's right to be because the second he finishes he is bombarded with a flood of questions.

  
  


They learn that his name is Ryan Haywood and that's he's going to be the office's new tech guy. They also learn that this was kind of an on the fly decision on Matt's part, so they'd have to ask him for the details.

Ray has since claimed his bottle of water and calmed down just a bit. The rest of the office is happily chatting away at Ryan but Ray has mostly been observing the dude who could be his- yeah he's not going there again.

Michael's still keeping a watchful eye on him and it's starting to piss him off. So Ray socked a guy in the jaw. Big deal.

He tugs his sleeve down a bit.

That's when Gavin opens his stupid big mouth, “So,” he starts and Ray can tell this will only end in pain, “What's this about you being Ray's soulmate?” tact was never one of his strong suits and it does show. Just a bit.

Ryan looks absolutely out of his depth, “Who?” he asks and looks down at his wrist. Of course it's covered with his sleeve so he tugs it up a bit to see and-

“Who is Ray?” he asks again, his voice low and dangerous.

Gavin kind of squawks and just waves his hands in the general direction of Ray, the traitor. Ryan puts down the ice pack and slowly stands up. In the mean time Ray's freaking out again, nearly shaking out of his skin. He can't stand the feeling of Ryan's burning eyes on his skin.

Michael quickly steps in between them.

“Yo dude you alright? You just got knocked out cold maybe you should rest a bit more,” it's clear from the way he says it that it's not a suggestion.

Geoff lays a mostly friendly hand on Ryan's shoulder and mostly gently pushes him down again while Gavin fucks off to somewhere behind Ray at the other side of the room and Jack sidles up to Michael.

Ryan deflates a bit, “Okay guys,” he doesn't lie down again but backs off and just sits there somewhat forlornly.

Michael sends Geoff a meaningful look. He lets Jack take the role of security wall and turns back to where Ray's having a minor mental breakdown. Geoff starts talking semi loudly at Gavin and Jack about their latest video idea, Jack chiming in every now and again and Gavin not really listening at all but going back over to poke at Ryan a bit more.

Michael pulls Ray's chair further away from the commotion. They can't really exit the office without confronting Ryan so they're confined to the limited space.

“What's up?” Michael asks worry clear in his eyes.

“Noth-” Michael's glare shuts that train of thought down pretty quickly, “I don't know,” he's bone tired, has been on the brink of burn-out for some time and now he gets this clusterfuck sprung on him. If anyone could tell him how he should be feeling that'd be nice, “Just give me a minute.”

Michael moves in front of him so he can't see Ryan anymore and calmly lays his hand on Ray's shoulder, “Yeah, okay,”

Ray draws a shaky breath through his nose and slowly exhales again through his mouth. It takes a while but at one point he calms down enough to think again, “Could I-” he wets his lips, “Could I talk to him? You know, alone?”

Michael pulls a bit of a face, “I don't know if leaving you alone with him right now is the best idea,” he pauses for a second, “But if that's what you want...”

“Yeah, sorry,” Ray says and scrubs his face hard with his hands, “You'll wait outside?”

“You bet your sorry ass,” Michael grins, “If that fucker tries anything just scream like the damsel I know you are and we'll be right there,”

Ray throws back a tired smirk, “Thanks.”

Michael ushers the gents and Gavin out quickly, with only mild protestations from them. There's no sense in pretending they aren't going to be pressed up against the door the moment it closes and it shows in the way they're loitering in the doorway until the last one is out.

Ray takes a deep calming breath and shrivels his chair so he's facing Ryan again.

“So,” he starts and Ryan looks up at him from where he's been staring kind of lost at the ground, “Hi, I'm Ray,”

“Hi Ray, I'm Ryan,” he says with a small smile and scratches the back of his head, “I'm honestly kind of overwhelmed right now,” he laughs and it's sweet in that rugged-lumberjack-that-really-likes-knitting kind of way.

“Tell me 'bout it,” Ray says and a small smile finds its way onto his face, too.

Ryan quietly laughs again, “Yeah, so you're my soulmate?”

“As far as I understand,” Ray shrugs, “You're the one who woke me in the kitchen?”

“Yep.”

“And your clock wasn't red before then?”

“Yep, again.”

“Yeah, that probably means we're soulmates.”

Ryan's quiet for a moment then, “Your clock do anything strange before then?”

“Oh, yes. You know what's up with that?” Ray rolls his chair a bit closer to the couch.

“What did your clock do?”

“Ah, well, until yesterday,” Ray hesitates, “There were no numbers?”

Ryan makes a contemplative sound and there's a little crease between his eyebrows, “Is that- is that normal here?”

“I-? No?” Ray narrows his eyes at Ryan who's studiously looking at a point just above Ray's shoulder, “No that isn't normal at all?”

“Okay,” Ryan lets out a slow sigh, “I realize this might sound crazy,” he starts and Ray can tell by the way he says it that Ryan knows 100% that it will absolutely sound crazy but is trying to soften the blow, “I'm not exactly from this dimension?”

Ray's eyebrows might as well have broken a world record they jumped up to his hairline so fast. He opens his mouth to make a joke or something but Ryan's faster.

“Just let me show you something?” he asks and looks so fucking _hopeful_ that Ray can only quietly nod in response. Ryan shuffles forward a bit and rolls his sleeve up to his elbow then he holds his wrist out for Ray to inspect.

Ray expected the normal red zeroes lining up but what he sees is not that at all. It's red alright but it's not a counter. It's a highly stylized cow's head with a crown on it. The crown starts a bit below his wrist and the whole of the thing stretches about halfway down his arm. Where his clock should be is just. Nothing.

“Yeah, so,” Ryan says and Ray has the sudden urge to clock him a good one again.

“Okay,” Ray says, a bit breathless. He takes a slow breath to catch himself, “Okay. That actually makes sense. Kind of,” he looks up at Ryan's eyes again, they're very blue, “Tell me more.”

“Yeah, okay. So,” he takes a deep breath again, “Where I come from it's mostly normal to have a string of numbers on your wrist. Most of the times it's exactly the same number,” he looks down at his mark, “We developed a bit differently. We don't have clocks like you have,” he gestures over to Ray's wrist, “The numbers are something like coordinates. They show you if your soulmate is somewhere in another dimension,” as Ryan tapers off at the end Ray can see that he tries to find the right words and is failing spectacularly. So he apparently decides to start at the absolute beginning, “I think it started when professor Elias first discovered trans-dimensional travel. There's records that before that my world just had something like tattoos that appeared-”

“Okay dude, chill. No need to roll out your whole world's history,” Ray stops him with a laugh, “Just tell me how you got here. And where those coordinates have gone.”

Ryan splutters and blushes lightly, “Okay,” he takes a moment to gather his thoughts, “So the coordinates are easy, they were where the tattoo is, now,” he shows off his arm again, “When I touched you this appeared instead of them,” he trails a finger along the mark and smiles lightly, “As for how I got here... Ah-”

“Out with it dude,” Ray needles him on with a smile.

“Well,” Ryan says with an uncomfortable shrug, “I can neither confirm nor deny that I might have broken into a government facility and appropriated one of their top secret trans-dimensional traveling devices,” he delivers it in a beautiful deadpan and it's all Ray can do not to smother him with a hug right there.

Instead he says, “You _giant_ nerd! Dude, what the fuck!” and bursts out into the kind of laughter that rocks his whole body with its intensity.

“What,” Ryan says one side of his mouth moving up into a small crooked smile, “That was a perfectly normal thing to say.”

“Yeah but the way you said it,” he's still giggling quietly “'I can neither confirm or deny' what the fuck,” he bursts out into genuine laughter again as he says it, imitating Ryan with a mockingly deep tone of voice, “That's the most nerdy way of saying it and you fucking nailed it. Wow. Just wow dude.”

“Hey,” Ryan says and tries to sound hurt but the smile on his face is giving him away. Ray knows he's probably more relieved than anything.

Ray feels strangely light. He honestly hasn't felt this good in some weeks and he's missed it.

“So,” Ray says after he's calmed down a bit. Normally he's a pretty sensible person but he decides to throw caution in the wind this time, “Wanna go grab a meal or something?” he considers that for a second, “Well, I doubt Michael'll let us out of the office today, I mean you were kind of intimidating there at the start,” Ryan makes a small noise of protest, “But like go sit down out by the tables and talk a bit? Is that alright with you?” Ray feels a tad self-conscious. He's never asked anyone out in his life and here he is in the first throes of his soulmate encounter and he feels terribly stiff and awkward.

“Yeah, I'd love that,” Ryan says, sunny smile on his face and Ray feels a bit better about himself.

“Okay,” he says and gets up to let the guys in and tell them about his brand new soulmate.

  
  


So they sit out together by the tables both nursing their non-alcoholic drinks and talk. Ray finds out that while Ryan might not know much about this world he's eager to learn everything he can.

He also finds out that a lot of their life choices overlap nicely. They're both a bit antisocial and much more into games than is proper.

So they go on a couple of dates and they just kind of click. It's everything Ray's ever heard a soulmate could be and he's really happy that Ryan is his.

Michael and Gavin are insistently sniping at him to finally just kiss the guy but Ray doesn't put out that easily guys, come on.

It's been some weeks now but Ray still feels a bit overwhelmed by the whole soulmate thing.

Ryan doesn't push and Ray's so fucking grateful. He needs the space right now.

At one point he calls up his parents and tells them some of the things happening. He kind of leaves out the whole other dimension schtick but he can at least tell them about his soulmate and his concerns. They tell him that most of these things tend to sort themselves out and that he should do whatever he wants most. They'd back him up regardless of what he chooses to do.

To borrow Ryan's phrasing he can neither confirm nor deny maybe having cried a little that night.

After that he still doesn't really now what to do but he still feels a bit better. A bit of a mental breakdown is nice and cleansing once in a while.

He invites Ryan to a nice restaurant and decides to just wing it from there.

  
  


He dresses up a bit: white polo, black jeans and a black jacket. He's still wearing his checkered loafers though. Shut up Michael, that's plenty dressed up for him. He could have gone with his tuxedo print shirt but didn't. Suck on that asshole.

If he's at the place like fifteen minutes early that's just courteous and has nothing to do with his nerves at all.

It's more a family restaurant than really anything fancy and it has filling meals instead of stylish dishes. They'd found out like five minutes into their first get together that neither of them really cares for haute cuisine so they walked out of that place and into the next best burger joint. Ray had to rib on the moment with a bad rom-com trope joke of course. Regardless it was a nice night and that was also the night he noticed how nice Ryan's laugh is.

He's at the table and orders them drinks, plain water for Ray and a diet coke for Ryan.

Just as the drinks arrive so does Ryan.

They small talk for a bit about what's been happening at the office and how much of a bother Gavin had been while they wait for the main course. When it gets there they only occasionally make a comment on the food but don't talk too much as they'd much rather simply enjoy their meal. Ryan decides to go for a dessert and Ray humors him. In the end they share a big banana split. Sharing as in Ryan eats like 80% of the thing while Ray just slowly nibbles on his spoonfuls.

After that they just sit there and talk for a bit longer. Ray learns that theoretically Ryan has a dual college degree in something to do with theater and physics but of course that is pretty much useless here in another dimension. He also learns that Matt picked up Ryan in the middle of some field and took him home like some stray. They apparently got talking and Ryan showed off his mad tech knowledge so Matt offered to get him situated in the States as long as he came to work for them. Matt has a too big heart sometimes. So Ryan is not technically a citizen of any country right now but they'd get them sorted before the year is out.

Some time later they get gently kicked out of the restaurant because they're closing for the night.

Ryan drives him home and delivers him right to his doorstep like the perfect gentleman he is.

“ Okay Ray, I'll see you at the office,” he shuffles his feet a bit and looks at the ground, “So, bye,” he says, looks up at Ray and smiles a skittish little smile. 

Ray decides something then. He decides that caution is for suckers leans up and kisses Ryan right on the mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ["my soulmate timer showed no numbers until you came into my universe au"](http://xaquaangelx.tumblr.com/post/102753942970/fictional-character-universe-jumping-aus-you)  
>  AKA: "4k build-up for one lousy kiss"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is for [donotjustlive_fly](http://archiveofourown.org/users/donotjustlive_fly) because hey, they commented on every single one of my Raywood stories and they probably deserve it <3  
> so friend, this one's for you

Ray's kind of nervous when he gets to work on Monday. He's last seen Ryan at their date on Friday and they haven't really talked since he kissed the dude. To be perfectly honest he's been mostly holed up with his games that weekend. He's only really talked to Tina and that was already all kinds of mortifying. She might be his best friend but she's also his ex so talking about new potential lovers was pretty awkward.

So he comes into work and Michael and Gavin just home in on him like the gossip loving schoolgirls they are. Geoff is unsubtly eavesdropping in the background.

“So how are we doing today?” Michael asks with a shit eating grin on his face.

“Shut up,” he says and there's a rosy tint to his cheeks. Fuck he feels like a schoolgirl now, too.

Gavin is “Oooooh”-ing in the background and Michael's grin is just splitting his smug face now, “That good, huh?”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” his eyes fly back to his screen, deciding that the conversation was done.

“C'mon dude, what happened?” Michael needles him on and Ray's gaze flickers up to him for a second. The tips of Ray's ears go red as he remembers the kiss. It's official. He's a fucking virginal maiden.

“Nothing big,” he says and doesn't stutter damn it, “We just kissed is all.”

The lads break into hollering. “I knew you could do it man!” Michael thumps him onto the back and Gavin squawks “Alright!” and fist pumps so hard he nearly falls over.

Jack comes in and asks what's causing all this noise. Geoff tells him like a proud mother would about her child. Jack smiles and congratulates him in a much more quiet way than any of the others have ever mastered while pandemonium's still raining down in the background.

Ryan comes in and the lads spontaneously find their inner calm.

“Uh, hi,” he says and it's so fucking reminisced of their first encounter that Ray nearly bursts out laughing.

After that nothing seems quite as bleak as it did.

  
  


They go out on a date again. This time it's a movie date. They see a pretty generic action flick and Ryan just rips apart the special effects as they come out of it. Ray's laughing up a storm about how casually he tears into the plot holes and physical impossibilities of the movie.

They go through their usual routine of Ryan dropping him off at his apartment complex.

Only this time Ray invites him up.

Ryan's in his flat sitting on his couch and looking around interestedly. Ray's only really interested in Ryan's mouth right now though.

“I don't want to alarm you,” Ray starts as he climbs into Ryan's lap, “But I'm going to kiss you now dude.”

Ryan looks a bit overwhelmed, blushing something fierce, “Okay,” he says, strangled, hands settling on Ray's hips.

Ray cards one of his hands through Ryan's hair, the other setting warmly on his chest. He leans down so his lips just barely brush Ryan's and takes the moment in for a second. The way Ryan's hands feel slowly rubbing circles at his hips. The way his thighs are stretching kind of uncomfortably and his calves are slowly turning pins and needles. The way Ryan's eyes are still unearthly blue even in the dim light of his flat.

He leans down the rest of the distance and takes Ryan's lips in a slow closed mouthed kiss.

When they break Ray's a bit breathless and Ryan's not much better off.

“So,” Ray says.

“Let's do that again,” Ryan says and cranes his head up to connect their lips.

Ray makes a surprised sound but deepens the kiss in the end. Ryan moves one of his hands up to Ray's wrist and circles his counter with his thumb. Ray moans into the kiss. The situation in his pants is getting a bit uncomfortable. He breaks the kiss again.

“Hey,” Ray says a bit reluctant, “Can we stop for today?” he gently knocks his forehead to Ryan's and stays there while his eyes close, “Go slow and shit?”

Ryan's hands flex where they're pressed against his body, “Yeah,” he sounds strangled, clears his throat and says, “That's alright,” he pulls his hand slowly from his hip as Ray carefully extricates himself from him, Ryan's other hand moves down to tangle with Ray's hand. He brings it up to his lips, “We still okay though?”

Ray looks down at him from where he's standing. Ryan looks so fucking afraid and small that Ray feels a bit bad about not feeling ready yet. About making Ryan feel unwanted. Ryan isn't in any way unwanted. But he can't really do anything about that though. He says, “Yeah, we good,” and leans down to kiss Ryan's cheek.

After that whole situation's dealt with they settle down to play some games for a couple of hours then Ryan excuses himself for the night.

“Tonight was lovely,” he says at the door and there's so much honesty in his adoring gaze that Ray can't help himself but press a soft kiss to his lips.

“Yes it was,” he says, “We should do that again.”

They say their goodbyes and Ryan leaves with a smile.

  
  


As he lies awake in bed that night he suddenly remembers that he never apologized for socking Ryan in the face at the start. He should probably do that at some point. In fact he should probably do that right now that he remembers.

He fishes his phone out from somewhere in his sheets and shoots off a text: “hey man sorry about bashing your face in that one time”.

Some minutes later his phone flashes up at him. “Today made more than up for that, Ray” Ryan writes and Ray's face feels really warm.

“you giant nerd, go to bed” Ray texts back and buries his phone under his pillow.

He doesn't notice until the next morning that he's got another text, “Love you, too”.

  
  


“Matt doing fine?” they're comfortably situated on the couch in the mostly deserted office. Only Jack is sitting a little ways off getting in some editing, headphones snugly on his head.

“Yeah,” Ryan says distractedly, he's reading some sort of tech magazine, one of his hand rests warmly on Ray's ankle, “He just got a new microwave and is just microwaving every meal he makes,” he seems a bit- not disgusted but something very close.

Ray makes a considering noise from where he's stretched out over Ryan's legs, his DS in hand, “The whole citizenship already sorted out?”

Ryan snorts unattractively, “With how fast legal channels are around here? No way.”

Ray looks up from his game and smiles at the nerd's profile. His nerd, “Pity,” he says, “Can't make an honest woman out of you then.”

Ryan splutters and blushes hard, “W-wha-”

“You wanna come over tonight?” Ray interrupts him and the tips of Ryan's ears are turning a lovely shade of red.

“I- yes, okay,” he says and studiously buries his nose back in his magazine.

  
  


When they get back to his place that evening things get heated pretty quickly.

Ray has Ryan shoved back against the wall by the door and is kissing the living daylights out of him.

As they break Ray asks, “Mind if we move this over to the bedroom?”

Ryan shakes his head and mindlessly follows Ray's mouth to the bedroom.

It's all very sweet and slow when they get there. Ray had bought condoms and lube in preparation and he's so glad for that now even for all the mortification he felt standing uncomfortable and spluttering at the cash register.

Ray prepares Ryan thoroughly and slides in as gentle as he can manage. Ryan wraps himself around him.

“You alright?” Ray breathes out and he's so fucking euphoric that he can have this with this perfect man.

“Y-yeah,” Ryan answers from where his face is buried in Ray's neck.

It's not really smooth sailing from there. Ray blunders and they laugh. Ryan makes a whole host of strange noises and they laugh. It isn't in any way smooth but it's happy and it's them and it's everything Ray can ask for.

They're sweaty and spent when they finish and Ray just kind of flops down onto Ryan's chest. They still and relax for a moment.

“Hey Ryan,” Ray says sleepily into Ryan's collar bone, “You know that I love you, right?”

“Yeah,” Ryan says and there's some kind of too bright and strangled happiness in his voice, “Yeah, I know,” he pauses for a second, “You know- you know that I love you, too?”

“Yeah,” Ray says and presses a small kiss to Ryan's chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (there's no real expo here I'm sorry - but look they're really smooshy and disgusting with each other!)


End file.
